Understand the key components of responsive web design and how to employ a “content first” approach while designing your next Drupal site using the new Twitter Bootstrap-based Open Framework theme.

Responsive design is the future of the web. More and more people are using mobile devices of all shapes and sizes to access the web and, more than ever, websites need to respond to this changing landscape of devices. Yet responsive web design is relatively new and there are many different ways people are approaching this in the Drupal community.

We will tease apart what we mean by “responsive web design,” focusing specifically on a “content first” approach to designing responsive layouts. We will discuss various aspects to consider, including preservation of content hierarchy, support and strategy for complex layouts, and ease of implementation for site builders, content editors, and designers.

We will look at the landscape of themes and tools available, and demo Open Framework, a new Drupal theme that uses Twitter Bootstrap and provides a simple yet powerful way to create complex responsive layouts. We will examine a sample of common page layouts that can be achieved by using Open Framework and discuss the complexities of designing a responsive theme for an ever-changing, multi-device landscape.

Things we cover in this presentation:

What is responsive web design, and why should you care?

How do you make your Drupal site responsive?

An overview of popular themes and tools in use

An introduction to Twitter Bootstrap

What should you consider when creating a responsive website?

How can a “content first” approach lead to a better responsive design?

What is the Open Framework theme, and why might you use it?

Who this talk is for:

Site builders

Designers

Themers

Content producers

Content strategists

People who are new to responsive web design

People who are about to start a responsive web design project

People who are considering options for responsive base themes

About the Presenters

Brian Young and Megan Miller work at Stanford University IT Services, designing and creating web templates and themes for use across campus. They are the maintainers of the Open Framework theme, which is used as the base theme for Stanford’s Drupal theme development.